The Intelligence of the Heart

In our continuing vein of exploring healthy relationships within ourselves in order to establish healthy ones with each other and the greater community of life, I have to put forth one of the most inspiring books on the subject I have yet encountered and recommend it as highly as I can for anyone interested in a whole being integral relationship (with anything).

“The Secret Teachings of Plants”, subtitled “The intelligence of the heart in the direct perception of nature” by Stephen Harrod Buhner is a powerful and thorough work that guides the reader through a comprehensive perspective shift regarding our hearts. The book methodically walks one through a process that allows for a conscious shift in the seat of perception from the mind to the heart, and this opens the doorway towards re-aligning the methods that we perceive the world we live in to the organic whole body coherence perception that is our evolutionary birthright.

I found it particularly interesting that while our minds are primarily concerned with linear and analytical constructs that inherently separate the perceiver from the perceived, heart based perception is fractal or non-linear in nature (just like nature), and has the ability to immerse one’s perceptions within a truly interactive and dynamic communication. This does not in any way diminish the benefits or worth of linear conceptual thinking, it just changes the priority it is given so that our interactions with our perceptions are based in a more integral manner, one that is coherent with the very fabric of creation itself.

From the book: “Still, there is great power in the world around us. It has not disappeared just because we no longer notice it. Redeveloping the capacity for heart-centered cognition can help each of us reclaim personal perception of the living and sacred intelligence within the world, within each particular thing. It moves us from a rational orientation in a dead, mechanized universe to one in which the unique perceptions of the heart are noticed and strengthened, to a deep experience of the living soulfulness of the world. As the process continues to deepen, it strengthens our spiritual sensitivity and, in the process, helps us gain a deeper understanding of our own sacredness. The use of the heart as an organ of perception and communication, to weave us once again inextricably into the life web of the Earth, to gather knowledge from the heart of the world, and to help us live a whole and fulfilled life, to become who we are meant to be, is what the rest of this book is about.”

Moving forward in the re-enchantment of the world,
Eric

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

The feel for life, the skills for creative interaction with the earth processes: these have been suppressed over a series of generations. ~ Thomas Berry